Ratchet lock

ABSTRACT

THIS INVENTION RELATES TO PLUG DOORS FOR RAILROAD CARS OF THE TYPE ADAPTED TO MOVE LATERALLY IN AND OUT OF THE DOOR FRAME AND TO ROLL SIDEWAYS ALONG THE CAR ON APPROPRIATE RAILS PARALLEL WITH THE WALL OF THE CAR. THE DOOR HAS TWO VERTICAL PIPES HAVING CRANKS ON EITHER END. THE CRANKS ON THE LOWER ENDS OF THE PIPES ARE MOUNTED ON ELEMENTS WHICH BEAR ON THE RAILS. ATTACHED TO EACH PIPE IS A CLEVIS AND EACH CLEVIS IS ACTUATED BY A ROD WHICH EXTENDS PERPENDICULAR TO BOTH THE JUXTAPOSED PIPE AND CLEVIS. THE RODS ARE ATTACHED TO A GEAR SEGMENT DISPOSED NEAR THE CENTER OF THE DOOR. A PINION THREADEDLY ENGAGED AROUND A MANUALLY OPERATED SHAFT MOVES FORWARD OR BACK ON THE THREADS OF THE SHAFT TO DRIVE THE SEGMENT. DURING ROTATION OF THE SHAFT TO WITHDRAW THE DOOR FROM THE DOOR OPENING, THE PINION WILL MOVE IN A DIRECTION TO CLAMP A TOOTHED WHEEL BETWEEN IT AND A FLANGE FIXED TO THE SHAFT. THE TOOTHED WHEEL IS DISPOSED IN ENGAGEMENT WITH A PAWL AND THE PAWL IS SO DISPOSED AS (1) TO ALLOW THE CLAMPED TOOTHED WHEEL TO ROTATE IN A DIRECTION WITH THE PINION TO OPEN THE DOOR AND (2) TO PREVENT ROTATION OF THE WHEEL IN A DIRECTION TO CLOSE THE DOOR. WHEN THE FLANGE, WHEEL AND PINION ARE FRICTIONALLY ENGAGED, THE PAWL PREVENTS ROTATION OF THE WHEEL TOWARD CLOSED POSITION AND THE DOOR IS PREVENTED BY THIS RACHET LOCK FROM MOVING TOWARD THE RAILROAD CAR SIDE DUE TO ANY EXTRANEOUS FORCES. UPON INITIAL ROTATION IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION TO CLOSE THE DOOR, THE THREE CLAMPED ELEMENTS SEPARATE TO BREAK THE CLAMP.

Jan.19,1971' 3,555,731-

' RA'I CBET LOCK Filed Aug 30. 1968 v 6Shets-Sheet 1.

INVENTOR; IRVING. D. ROSS JR.

ATTORNEYS.

Jan. 19,1971 5 LD. ROSS, JR 3,555,731

RATCHET LOCK Filed Aug. 30,1968 3Sheets-Sheet2 FIG.3

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United States Patent US. Cl. 49-410 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to plug doors for railroad cars of the type adapted to move laterally in and out of the door frame and to roll sideways along the car on appropriate rails parallel with the wall of the car. The door has two vertical pipes having cranks on either end. The cranks on the lower ends of the pipes are mounted on ele ments which bear on the rails. Attached to each pipe is a clevis and each clevis is actuated by a rod which extends perpendicular to both the juxtaposed pipe and clevis. The rods are attached to a gear segment disposed near the center of the door. A pinion threadedly engaged around a manually operated shaft moves forward or back on the threads of the shaft to drive the segment. During rotation of the shaft to withdraw the door from the door opening, the pinion will move in a direction to clamp a toothed Wheel between it and a flange fixed to the shaft. The toothed wheel is disposed in engagement with a pawl and the pawl is so disposed as l) to allow the clamped toothed wheel to rotate in a direction with the pinion to open the door and (2) to prevent rotation of the wheel in a direction to close ,the door. When the flange, wheel and pinion are frictionally engaged, the pawl prevents rotation of the wheel toward closed position and the door is prevented by this ratchet lock from moving toward the railroad car side due to any extraneous forces. Upon initial rotation in the opposite direction to close the door, the three clamped elements separate to break the clamp.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application, Ser. No. 744,960, filed July 16, 1968, now abandoned.

For several years the closing and locking mechanisms for plug type railroad car doors have consisted of cranks depending from pairs of pipes rotationally secured to the doors and hand operated gear mechanisms to rotate the pipes and cranks between open and closed positions. Upon rotation of the pipes in a direction to apply a closing force to the door, a gasket in the door frame is usually compressed to seal the door. When the door is released, the cranks rotate in a direction which moves the door laterally outwardly so that it will clear the door frame for longitudinal movement along tracks or rails of the car.

The problem which exists as a result of the gear mechanisms during the longitudinal movement of the door along the tracks is the easy in and out movement of the door against the side of the car. The moving parts of the gear mechanism are well lubricated and structured to reduce friction. This easy movement of the door allows it to bang and scrape against the car side. This banging scars the door and abrades the side of the car, necessitating frequent painting and replacement of worn or damaged parts.

A typical operating mechanism for opening and closing a plug door includes a clevis attached to each of the pipes and rods attached to the clevises. The rods are caused to reciprocate relative to the center of the door, thereby rotating the pipes. The rods are connected for reciproca- Patented Jan. 19, 1971 tion to a driven gear segment which is remotely actuated by a pinion rotationally connected to a handle. This rotating handle is the manually controlled mechanism for withdrawing the plug door from the door opening to permit it to move longitudinally along the car parallel to the car wall. Since there is very little friction in the mechanism, the door when open and positioned longitudinally away from the door opening, can move laterally into the car side. One unsuccessful solution suggested for this problem of the rotating handle-gear operated type mechanism has been to provide a catch on the car door which drops down and blocks rotation of the handle. However, to do so is inconvenient in that it requires an additional manual operation and the catch may accidentally drop down when the handle is being rotated to open the door.

This invention provides a solution to the problem of plug doors inadvertently engaging the side of a car by a combination of elements attached generally to the operating handle which, in effect, acts as a ratchet lock for holding the door in its laterally outermost position. More over, the ratchet lock holding is accomplished automatically in that, no additional manual operation is required to open the door.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The invention is related to a railroad car having a plug type door for sealing engagement with a door frame in the side of the car. The door is mounted on cranks which are fixed to vertically extending, rotatable pipes attached to the car door on the outer side thereof. A clevis is attached to each rotatable pipe and a rod or link is attached to each clevis. Each rod extends in a direction substantially perpendicular to the vertically extending pipes. The rods also extend toward each other and each is attached to a single gear segment located near the vertical centerline of the door. As the gear segment is rotated, the rods move toward or away from the centerline depending upon the direction of rotation of the gear segment. The rods in this manner drive the clevises to urge the rotation of the pipes to open or close the door.

The gear segment has teeth in its outer circumferential edge which engage correspondingly shaped teeth on a pinion. The pinion circumscribes a shaft which extends perpendicular to the face of the car door. The shaft and pinion are threadedly engaged such that the pinion moves longitudinally of the shaft upon rotation thereof. A handle is fixed to the outer end of the shaft for manual rotation to open or close the door. Also ciroumscribing the shaft and fixedly attached thereto is a flange. A toothed wheel is coaxially disposed intermediate the flange and the pinion. The threads of the pinion and shaft are so related as to move the pinion toward the flange when the handle on the outer end of the shaft is being rotated in a direction to open the door. As the shaft is rotated to open the door, the pinion moves toward the flange and the toothed wheel is clamped therebetween.

The toothed wheel is engaged by a pawl on its circumference and the teeth of the closed toothed wheel are so disposed as to move freely over the pawl when the shaft rotates as the door is being opened. However, the pawl will prevent rotation of the wheel from extraneous forces in a direction to close the door. Since obviously, with the wheel clamped between the pinion and flange, neither of these elements can rotate relative to the wheel. The result is a locking action to keep the door open.

The locking action may be removed for closing the door by operating the handle in a direction of rotation opposite to that performed during opening. The initial rotation of the handle creates an axial movement of the pinion away from the wheel to permit relative rotation between the flange and the toothed wheel. The flange has slots to permit this initial rotation. After disengagement of the wheel, the slot ends act to rotationally drive the pinion to move the cranks in a door closing direction.

An object of this invention is to provide a railroad car door operating mechanism with a ratchet lock means to automatically hold the door locked in its outermost position when the door is open.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel locking structure to hold a door of a railroad car in outermost position to prevent scraping of the car door against the side of the car.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a railroad car door embodying the invention in its closed position;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged diagrammatic front elevational view of the locking elements and the gear segment arranged in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the locking elements surrounding the shaft taken along lines 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the pinion;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of said pinion taken along lines 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the toothed wheel;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the toothed wheel taken along lines 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a front elevational view of the flange; and

FIG. 9 is an elevational cross-sectional view of the flange taken along lines 99 of FIG. 8.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT This invention is concerned with the operating mechanism of a door of a railroad car, particularly a plug type car door. In FIG. 1, the railroad car is indicated generally by the number 2. Disposed in a door opening 4 in the side of the railroad car is a plug door 6. As is usual with plug doors for railroad cars, the plug door 6 is supported on pipes 8 and 10 and on cranks 12 attached to the lower ends thereof. The door 6 is adapted to move laterally out of the door opening 4 and move longitudinally along the side of the car on a track 14 to free the door opening for loadin or unloading. The door is movably supported on the track 14 by roller hangers 16, which are attached to the ends of cranks 12, to guide the door on its longitudinal movement.

The pipes 8 and 10 are rotatably secured to the outer face of door 6 by brackets 17 located near the side edges of the door to hold the pipes in vertical position. As seen in FIG. 1, the cranks 12 serve as lever arms for laterally moving the door in and out of the door opening 4. An elongated upper crank 18 is attached at one of its ends to the upper end of each pipe and has a roller 20 at its opposite end. The rollers 20 are disposed behind a retainer rail 22. The combination of the rollers 20 and retainer rail 22 acts as a guide for the car door as it is moved longitudinally along the car.

Disposed between the door and the door opening is a compression gasket for sealing around the door. For convenience, the gasket has not been shown in the drawings but it may be of any conventional type and is not a part of this invention.

Rigidly affixed to the lower portion of each pipe is a clevis 26 for rotating the pipes 12 and 14. The lever arm formed by each clevis extends substantially perpendicular to the pipe axis. Attached to each clevis is a rod or link 28. The rods 28 are substantially parallel to the track 8 and the retainer 22 and extend substantially perpendicular to the axis of the pipes toward the centerline of the door.

Near the centerline of the door a gear segment 30 pivots around a pin 32. One end of each of the rods 28 is attached to the gear segment 30 by a pin 34. Pins 34 are located approximately 180 apart on the gear segment 30. A cam slot 36 is formed at two locations in the periphery of the gear segment 30 and a finger 38 of a cam crank 40 projects into each slot 36. Each crank 40 pivots about a pin 42 and projecting through one end thereof is a pin 44 for propelling an actuating bar 46. Each actuating bar 46, as shown in FIG. 1, is pivotally fixed to one of the pins 44. Finger cranks 48 are attached to the bars 46 by pins 50 which project into horizontally extending slots (not shown) in the bar. The pivot points of finger cranks 48 are fixed pins 52 and the leg of each finger crank not attached to a bar 46 is secured to a horizontally movable locking finger 54 by a pin 56.

Secured to the railroad car along the side edges of the door opening 4 are a plurality of keepers 58. The keepers 58 are essentially cup shaped elements formed to receive the outer projection of the locking fingers 54 when the door is closed to lock it in position. The operation for getting the locking fingers 54 in and out of the keepers 58 will be explained subsequently.

Also disposed near the centerline of the door 6 is a handle 60 which is affixed to a threaded shaft 62 extending perpendicular to the face of the door. The shaft 62 is supported by mirror image bushings 64 and 66. The rear bushing 64 is supported on a bracket 68 attached to the metal sheathing 70 of the car door. The front bushing 66 journals an outer portion of the threaded shaft 62 and is held in place by a plate 72. As best seen in FIG. 3, there are three elements coaxially disposed around the threaded shaft 62; they are a flange 74, a toothed wheel 76 and a pinion 78. The teeth of the pinion 78 engage the teeth 79 of the gear segment 30 as best seen in FIG. 2. The pinion 78 is threaded to the shaft 62 and has lugs 80 projecting substantially parallel with the shaft axis toward the bracket 68. The lugs 80 project through the central opening 81 of the toothed Wheel 76 and through slots 82 in the flange 74. The slots 82 are arcuate openings through the flange 74 and are disposed substantially concentrically with the shaft 62 and diagonally across -from each other as best seen in FIGS. 8 and 9.

The circular opening 8.1 through the toothed wheel 76 is of a greater diameter than the radial distance between the lugs 80 on the pinion 78. To concentrically support the toothed wheel 76 around the shaft 62, arcuate shoulders 84 are formed on the flange 74 facing the toothed wheel. The inner surface of the toothed wheel defining the opening 81 will ride on the shoulders 84. Laterally associated with the toothed wheel 76 is a pawl 86 which is rotatably secured to the door 6 by a pin 88. As best seen in FIG. 2, the pawl 86 is held in engaging relationship with the toothed wheel 76 by the Weight of the lever arm 90.

In operation a plug door 6 located in a door opening 4 must be moved laterally outward from the door opening and then moved longitudinally along the car 2 to free the door opening for loading or unloading of the railroad car. The door is caused to move in or out of the door opening by the rotation of a manually operated handle 60. customarily the handle 60 is rotated counterclockwise to open the door. Accordingly, counterclockwise rotation of the handle rotates the shaft 62 in a counterclockwise direction, as best seen in FIG. 3. Rotation of shaft 62 causes the threaded pinion .78 to move inward, away from the handle, and a face 94 on the pinion engages the toothed wheel 76 to clamp it against a face 96 of the slotted flange 74. The clamping of the toothed wheel 76 between faces 94 and 96 will prevent rotation of the toothed wheel 76 relative to the shaft 62 while the door is being opened. The slotted flange 74, as shown in FIG. 3, is welded at 98 to the threaded shaft 62 and rotates with the shaft.

As seen in FIG. 2, the teeth on the toothed wheel 76 and the disposition of the pawl 86 will allow free movement of the clamped toothed wheel 76 in a counterclockwise direction until the door is completely opened. When the toothed wheel is clamped between the faces 94 and 96, the pinion 78 is caused to rotate with the threaded shaft 62 and the pinion teeth which engage the teeth 79 of the gear segment 30, cause the gear segment to rotate in a clockwise direction. This clockwise rotation actuates the cam cranks to rotate about the fixed pins 42 and a vertical motion is imparted to each actuating bar 46. The vertical movement of the actuating bars 46 forces rotation of the finger cranks 48 and the horizontally movable locking fingers 54 are retracted toward the centerline of the door 6 and the ends recede from the cup shaped keepers 58. The door is thus unlocked.

As the counterclockwise rotation of the shaft 62 continues, the pins 34 securing the rods 28 to the gear segment 30 are driven toward the centerline of the door and this causes the rods 28 to move toward the centerline also. That movement of the rods exerts force on the clevis lever arms 26 and the pipes 8 and 10 are rotated. The resulting crank operation of the rotating pipes 8 and 10 causes the door 2 to be moved laterally out of the door opening 4 and allows the door to be pushed longitudinally down track 14 away from the door opening.

The permitted lateral movement is the part of the door-railroad car combination which has been a problem with past door opening devices. It is quite important that the handle rotate freely and smoothly to prevent any great exertion by the person opening the door. However, in prior art devices as the door is pushed longitudinally down the track, it is relatively friction free to move in and out against the car side, and often does. This freely rotating handle and free in and out movement of the door results in a scraping of the side of the railroad car wall with the resulting damage to both the door and the railroad car wall which, of course, is undesirable. The prior art attempts to solve this problem are inadequate.

Observing FIGS. 2 and 3, it can be seen that the door of this invention is locked in its outward position by the door opening operation. Because of the counterclockwise rotation of handle 60, the toothed wheel 76 is clamped between the faces 94 and 96 and cannot rotate unless the threaded shaft 62 rotates. The toothed wheel 76 is not permitted to rotate in a clockwise direction (which is the direction of rotation for the closing of the door) because pawl 86 prevents its rotation in a clockwise direction. This effectively locks the door in its outermost position.

To close the door a workman must turn the handle clockwise. An initial movement of the handle in a clockwise direction is adequate to break the friction lock or clamping force of the faces 94 and 96 on the wheel 76. The structure which allows this release of the clamping force is the combination of the arcuate slots 82 and the lugs 80. In combination they allow limited rotational movement of the pinion 78 relative to the flange 74. This slight rotation, perhaps quarter-turn of the pinion 78 relative to the flange 74 will break the clamping force and release the toothed wheel 76. The pawl 86 still will not permit the toothed wheel 76 to rotate but, as the toothed wheel is no longer rigidly clamped between the faces 94 and 96, the flange 74, pinion 78 and shaft 62 are free to rotate with the handle 60. The lugs 80 projecting into slots 82 of the flange will engage the radial sides or ends of the slots and the pinion will be forced to rotate with the flange and shaft while the toothed wheel remains stationary. The teeth of pinion 78 again causes the rotation of the gear segment 30, this time in a counterclockwise direction. The resulting reverse movement of the other elements previously described serves to close and lock the door.

It is conventional to provide a seal when a car is loaded and the doors are closed. This seal is usually a thin strip of metal passed through an opening in the handle and an opening in a stationary part of the door. Should the seal be broken upon the arrival of the car at its destination, the break might indicate that the door was opened enroute. Such structure is not shown in the drawings. However, providing appropriate openings to receive such a seal is within the concept of this invention.

For ease of description the principles of the invention have been set forth in connection with but a single illustrated embodiment. It is not intended that the illustrated embodiment nor the terminology employed in describing it be limiting inasmuch as variations in this embodiment may be made by one havng ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Rather, it is intended that any restriction on the invention be limited to the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

1. A railroad car door including:

a pair of spaced apart rotatable pipes secured to said door,

crank means cooperating with said pipes to support,

open and close said door,

a rotatably mounted shaft having thread means thereon projecting from said door with a means for rotating said shaft secured to one end thereof,

a pinion driven by said threads and circumscribing said shaft,

a gear segment disposed in juxtaposed operating relationship with said pinion,

means cooperating'with said gear segment to rotate said pipes upon rotation of said gear segment, and

means for locking said door in open position in response to movement of the pinion.

2. The door of claim 1 wherein the locking means is a ratchet lock.

3. A railroad car door including:

a pair of spaced apart rotatable pipes secured to said door,

crank means cooperating with said pipes to support,

open and close said door,

a rotatably mounted shaft having thread means thereon projecting from said door with a means for rotating said shaft secured to one end thereof,

a pinion driven by said threads and circumscribing said shaft,

a gear segment disposed in juxtaposed operating relationship with said pinion,

means cooperating with said gear segment to rotate said pipes upon rotation of said gear segment, and

means for locking said door in open position in response to movement of the pinion said means for locking said door including an annular flange having slots therethrough, an externally toothed wheel and a pawl, said flange being disposed around said shaft and fixed thereto, lugs projecting from said pinion into said slots, said externally toothed wheel disposed around said shaft and between said flange and said pinion, and said pawl limiting rotation of said wheel.

4. The door of claim 3 wherein said wheel is supported substantially concentrically with said shaft by a shoulder on said flange.

5. The door of claim 3 wherein the rotating means and the shaft are secured by means for preventing relative movement therebetween.

6. The door of claim 5 including means for clamping and holding said wheel stationary, relative to said flange and said pinion.

7. The door of claim 6 wherein said clamping and holding means includes opposing faces, one on said flange and one on said pinion, and said thread means is constructed to move one face toward the other face when the rotating means is operated to open said door.

8. The door of claim 7 wherein said thread means is constructed to cause said faces to separate when said rotating means is operated to close said door.

9. The door of claim 3 wherein the lugs and slots, in combination, limit relative rotation of said flange and said pinion.

10. A railroad car door supported by a guide track attached to a railroad car below a door opening therein:

roller hangers on said track being movable longitudinally of said door opening,

a pair of pipes secured to said door with their axes in vertical position and with a crank means on each end thereof, said crank means on the lower ends of said pipes engaging the hangers whereby the door is adapted to move with said hangers longitudinally with respect to said door opening, the crank means on the upper ends of the pipes extending above the door and behind a retainer attached to said car above the door opening, said retainer and track being guides for said door;

two links, each attached by one end to a pipe by clevis means in a manner as to cause said pipes to rotate upon movement of said links in a direction perpendicular to the axis of said pipes,

the ends of said links remote from said clevis being attached to a gear segment,

said gear segment being supported for rotation by means engaging the door near the centerline thereof, a pinion engaging said gear segment for purposes of rotating the gear segment to move said rods and cause rotation of said pipes,

'said pinion having a circular opening therethrough and with threads in said opening,

said pinion circumscribing a threaded shaft and the threads of said pinion meshing with the threads on the shaft,

the shaft extending substantially perpendicular to the plane of said door, one end of said shaft being journaled for rotation in a bearing fixed to said door, the other end of said shaft being secured to a handle which serves as a means to rotate said shaft and pinion,

shoulder means on said flange on the side facing said pinion for supporting a wheel,

door closed condition, the combination comprising:

a pair of rotatable pipes secured to the door;

crank means on either end of each of said pipes with said crank being adapted to be supported on the side of a railway car;

an operating mechanism for rotating said pipes;

said operating mechanism comprising a shaft rotatably supported on the door;

a lever secured to one end of said shaft;

transmission means supported on said door interconnecting said shaft with said pipes whereby rotation of said shaft imparts corresponding rotation to said pipes; and

lock means operable to prevent lateral inward movement of said door when in the door open condition due to any extraneous forces.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,392,487 7/1968 Madland et al. 4922() J. KARL BELL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

